Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day/discussion archive 01

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This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Contents 1 Don't forget the newbs! 2 Weekly themes? 3 Auto-entry of tips 4 Building a corpus of tips 5 Advertising this project 6 Let's focus on writing tips! 7 Template 8 Let there be light! (Lightbulb pic and userbox issue) 9 Template heading issue 10 Old tips 11 Recycle list 12 WP-Specific search box 13 Multi-tips need to be broken up into individual tips 14 Good places to find tips 15 Emoticons or mascot icons 16 Userboxes 17 New lightbulb 18 Userboxes 19 How to ask a smart question 20 Few More Changes to Template 21 Capitalization 22 Usability studies 23 Here's one to write up: how to take a screenshot 23.1   24 Recruiter needed 25 Tips Wanted List (Tip of the day wish list) 26 Tips on this talk page 26.1 Mac question 27 We've almost surpassed the old project already 28 Word choice error 29 "Tip of the day:" removed from tip titles 30 Memo 31 Time saving links II 32 The Preview Button is your Friend 33 Browsing Feature 34 TOTD box size

Don't forget the newbs!

Some general suggestions: don't forget newbies too. Don't post only something that is gonna be used by an experienced WPedian. Having said that, you could post about subst, class=wikitable, class="hiddenStructure". Renata 04:59, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

You got it. --Go for it! 08:30, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Weekly themes?

Oh, and it would be really cool to have a topic for the week. For example, one week the tips would be all related to searching, another to navigation, third to templates, fourth to images and so on. Renata 02:09, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

That's a great idea. Once we build up enough tips, we could certainly do that. --Go for it! 01:47, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Auto-entry of tips

Can we have something to click on to add new tip entries? Rather than having to carefully format stuff and copy previous entries? Carcharoth 10:36, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

I can't find any documentation on how to do that. If you can, please point us to it. --Go for it! 01:47, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, you could put entries on a different subpage, and then use something like this, but as this page is at the moment, it's impossible. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 17:53, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Could built a parameterized template that took a header, body, and read more link, then doing a subst: on it would give you your text. - Ravedave 03:52, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

And done : User:Ravedave/TOTD_param Example use: {{subst:User:Ravedave/TOTD param | Header = Returning April 20th, 2006 | Text = Wikipedia '''Tip of the day''' will begin displaying tips on April 20th, 2006. | Link = Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day }}

• You could use a similar method to that of WP:AFC. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:52, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Building a corpus of tips

You may be doing this already, but have you considered creating a corpus of say, 100 "tips" which can then be selected from on a rotation basis, to avoid this project running out of tips again? -- ALoan (Talk) 12:12, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

The start date is April 20th, for that very reason. I'm personally writing a minimum of one tip per day (and have been doing so since February 20th), and others have stopped by to contribute as well. Official announcements of the launch will be posted around Wikipedia one month prior, on March 20th, along with a call for volunteers at that time. Until then, I'm testing the procedures and such with the few people who happen to discover this page (I have put a few links out there).  :-) --Go for it! 16:12, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

By March 20th, we should be ready for a large influx of volunteers. By then I'll have some more templates for the project. --Go for it! 16:19, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

By the way, we are shooting for a corpus of at least a few hundred tips. We'll easily make it to 100 tips by April 20th, and it should just keep growing from there. --Go for it! 16:30, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Advertising this project

Should I put a tip at the Wikipedia Signpost that the project is looking for tips? Smurrayinchester 17:03, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

I've decided to put a short tip, and see what they think... Smurrayinchester 17:29, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

What the heck. The more the merrier. Put the gas pedal to the floor! --Go for it! 03:25, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Will cover this week in News and Notes. Ral315 (talk) 02:29, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Let's focus on writing tips!

Another "by the way": what are your favorite tricks and techniques? --Go for it! 16:25, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Template

I have changed Template:Tip of the day to be a placeholder tip of the day rather than a redirect so people could begin placing it on pages. -Ravedave 19:22, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Incidently, having the tip title enclosed on == == signs displays poorly on user pages with tables (see my user page for an example). Could it just be big and bold? smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 19:35, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Good point, If we wanted to make another style for displaying such as User:Ravedave/TOTDbox it doesn't work. (Personally don't like the current way of displaying it). I think the Div causes issues as well, maybe that should be a table. (Edit - Divs don't cause issues.)-Ravedave 22:07, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I'd still like a plain white background (users can always add coloured backgrounds etc. when they place the box on their user page, but other than that, I like yours. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 22:12, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I wasn't planning on placing templates until March 20th. More than a month notice seems a bit excessive. --Go for it! 02:38, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

I also noticed there were several pages still including it, since it redirected it was including this whole page. Also we can set up a how to and I plan on setting up some "alternate" templates where its in a box etc, so having a sample is nice. -Ravedave 04:03, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Idea... If the template featured an inclusion of {{Wikipedia:Tip of the day/{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTDAY}}}}, it would automatically update daily. It won't work currently (without a switch, which isn't a good idea (WP:AUMÓ)), since the scheme isn't up and running, but you can see an example of the link made: Fansites, Forums, & other Webpage Articles

When creating articles on forums, fansites, or other webpages, remember that Wikipedia has three notability requirements for these types of articles. These requirements are: 1. The content itself has been the subject of multiple non-trivial published works whose source is independent of the site itself. 2. The website or content has won a well known and independent award. 3. The content is distributed via a site which is both well known and independent of the creators. While a particular website need not meet all of these requirements, it should meet at least one of them.

Prior tip - Next tip.

I should have mentioned that that has been the plan all along. The reason it isn't on the templates currently is because the first active date page is April 20th. --Go for it! 17:57, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Let there be light! (Lightbulb pic and userbox issue)

I found this image on commons, which by the sounds of the image description, was created for the original Tip of the day scheme. Could this be used, or at least replace the smiley in the userbox? smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 19:32, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Rather than replace the smiley, there's no reason why we can't have more than one userbox for this project.  ;-) --Go for it! 02:38, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

By the way, that image is on the template (not the placeholder version) - see my last couple of entries in the template history. What I'd really love to see is a light bulb that is lit and glowing brightly. The current lightbulb is unlit, like it just came out of the package. We could either find another lightbulb, or recolor this one. Shiny! --Go for it! 03:11, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Ping!

I've come up with a simple recolour, although it could always be better. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 07:58, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Template heading issue

Thanks for pointing out the problem with headings in tables. Could you point me to a specific example, so I can study the problem? --Go for it! 02:38, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

See here [1] for what was changed. The double equals sign doesn't work inside of a table. -Ravedave 05:33, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Old tips

Should we recycle old tips from Wikipedia:Tip_of_the_day/2004_archive? Several hundred thousand users have been added since they were last displayed. I think we should cull out and update good ones. -Ravedave 23:02, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm already in the process of doing this. (See this page's history). In order to track this better, I'll copy my working file for this to a subpage. As you recycle tips from there and place them on this page, remove them from the subpage, so tips don't recycled twice. --Go for it! 02:41, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

See "recycle list" below...

Recycle list

Okay, the subpage for recycling the 2004 archive is set up: Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day/Recycle these. I've already removed the couple or so I rewrote, and some of those on the list have been edited-in-place a bit already. Instructions are at the top of the subpage. --Go for it! 02:49, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

WP-Specific search box

A better version of this one exists further up the page at #Tip of the day: Advanced searching. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 20:49, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

When you are in google, working on non-wikipedia stuff, and then you all of a sudden want to do a Wikpedia search, the WP-specific search button on the toolbar comes in quite handy. --Go for it! 02:25, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Multi-tips need to be broken up into individual tips

Large tips defeat the purpose of this project. If the tip is too large (or too many tips are crammed into one), it might as well become a page, or a section thereof, and then a link can be provided to it. Or we can get more mileage out of it by breaking it up into multiple tips! --Go for it! 02:57, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Upon a rethink, both have their uses. The multi-tips are good for intermediate and advanced users who want it all in one place. Breaking it up into tidbits so it is more easily digestible by newbies is also a good idea. We can present both, maybe the tidbits first, with the compilation to top 'em off (after a delay). --Go for it! 03:04, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

• This would work great in combination with theme weeks. Do small tips on each of the days, at the end of the week, so a a compilation of the lot to see it in perspective. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:55, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
  • Cool. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks! --Go for it! 16:20, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Good places to find tips

• Help desk
• Village Pump
• User talk pages
• help pages

Emoticons or mascot icons

We need a little mascot, like a lightbulb with a (smiley) face on it, to place in Tip of the day related message traffic, etc. (Like when we ask the Help Desk for tips). And perhaps to insert in the tips themselves, for emphasis. It would give this project a stronger identity. --Go for it! 08:32, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Userboxes

Do we really want to encourage people to be creating more Userboxes? User:Zoe|^(talk) 19:07, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

New lightbulb

I made this in Photoshop, I've still got the original file, so any suggestions such as gradients would be helpful. Or, edit it yourself! --Keycard ^(talk) 08:32, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

OOh. Thanks for the graphic. And I do have a suggestion/question, or a suggestive question...

Can you put this face on your lightbulb?

Without the black circle, of course. --Go for it! 14:50, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

--Keycard ^(talk) 17:10, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Nice. Looks less evil ;) Petros471 17:34, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Here it is again. How do you make backgrounds transparent? --Go for it! 19:09, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

I've made it transparent using GIMP. Looks good! (Note: It's a PNG, so it won't appear transparent on Internet Explorer, but should on all other browsers)smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 21:27, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

I've made that image transparent, as it is the one currently used in the userbox. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 21:36, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

--Keycard ^(talk) 08:26, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Userboxes

The reason I say it's unsuitable isn't anything about userboxes in general, just that they shouldn't be a tip of the day. This should be saved for important things regarding wikiformatting and such, not something like userboxes. Ral315 (talk) 02:28, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

On the other hand, users use userboxes. Any time we can save them in their learning how to use them is time which they can spend on other aspects of their Wikipedia involvement. I wish I had a tip like this when I was adding userboxes to my user page, it would have cut my install time in half, because I didn't even know what the heck they were called, and so couldn't find the list of ready-made ones. I finally found out when I came across that userbox that "leaps off the screen" at you, because it was self-referential. --Go for it! 03:56, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

How to ask a smart question

• Often I come across Help desk or Ref desk questions where people forget to mention the basic facts needed to answer a question (like the country they are referring to), and I would like to see a tip that helps people to ask smart questions making it easier to answer quickly instead of asking follow-up questions to get a useful question. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:43, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
• And some pages like the desks and WP:AFC have rules. It would help if people are reminded to follow such rules every once in a while to stop all the clutter. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:43, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Two tips coming up. Thanks for the ideas. If you have any more, don't hesitate to drop by and let us know. --Go for it! 16:18, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay, they're done. See the new tips section above. --Go for it! 04:54, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Few More Changes to Template

I've rounded the corners of {{totd}} and changed the border colour. What d'ya think? Computerjoe 20:48, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Capitalization

I'm assuming that the capitalization scheme for tip titles (what follows Tip of the day:) is the same as WP's for article titles, lowercase second and subsequent words? Most of them follow that already, but I just changed a few. ×Meegs 07:49, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Usability studies

Some tips are apparent from the conclusions of this analysis. -- ALoan (Talk) 19:24, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the source. I've completed one tip based upon Usability test so far. See "Section edit button", above.

I think I read there that users couldn't use find on firefox 1.5 to search in the edit button. This also happened me so I found an extension: http://s93731204.onlinehome.us/firefox/retrofind.html, think it's safe enough to advise? SeanMack 16:40, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Here's one to write up: how to take a screenshot

from the Help Desk:

Wiki-star: Thank you again fellow wikipedians. I must especially thank the users who take the time and answer my questions. I really appreciate it! You won't be disappointed, trust me!

Now, i have one question. I now know completely how to insert an image within an article. However, i do not know how to insert a screenshot of a website. The Neoseeker article is an example. See how the image is a screenshot of the website? How can i also do that?

Thanks again wikipedians! You guys kick butt! Wiki-star 05:17, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

If you want to use a screenshot as an image, simply take the screenshot from your computer, save it as an image file, and upload like you would any other image. When uploading, be sure that it qualifies under Wikipedia:Fair use and use the appropriate tag (most likely it will be {{web-screenshot}}. -- Natalya 05:45, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

• Wiki-star: So am i suppose to right click the web page and save the background? Or click file, then save as? I'm sorry, but you have to thoroughly explain yourself.

Thanks! Wiki-star 05:57, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

It would help greatly if we knew what kind of system you're on. If you're on a Mac using OS X you can simply use the Grab utility to take a screenshot of any window. If you're on a Windows box, I have no clue. Dismas|^(talk) 06:54, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

• Wiki-star: I have Windows, and i'm trying to get a screenshot of This Website. But i do not know how and i need help.

Thanks! Wiki-star 07:09, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay, the following may or may not work, depending on your system: Go to the site, and click the "Print screen" key on your keyboard. This should put an image of your current screen in the windows clipboard. Then you can go to a program like windows paint and press Ctrl+V to paste it. From there you can do whatever you want with it.

There is also a software called PrintKey that is very useful for creating screenshots. You can download a free trial at [2]. Hope this helps. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 08:02, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

I've been wanting to know how to do this myself. I tried Meni's trick, and it works! Windows Paint is in the accessories menu. Click "Start", move the mouse pointer over "all programs", then "accessories", and you'll see it there on the drop down menu. --Go for it! 09:16, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

A useful addition is that, in Windows, if you hold ALT & Print Screen together it will only grab the currently active window - useful if you were going to crop it anyway this way you don't have to. SeanMack 16:34, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

 

---

Recruiter needed

We need someone to be this project's recruiter. You'll get to seek out Wikipedia's most knowledgeable experts, and invite them to contribute their best tricks and techniques to this project. Please drop me a note on my talk page, and I'll get you up to speed. --Go for it! 04:10, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I'd be willing to create a template and put it on a lot of users talk pages, but I have two cocnerns: 1. Is that spamming? 2. Can a bot do it more easily? Otherwise, I'd sign up to do it. Please respond to my talk page. Thanks, -Reuvenk_[T][C] 19:35, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Tips Wanted List (Tip of the day wish list)

• How to get up to speed really fast
• Power searching tips
• Power editing tips
• Power tools tips
• WikiJargon tips
• Test your Wikiresearch skills (needs test page to go with it)

(If you can think of any tips you'd like to read that don't exist yet, add them to the above list).

Tips on this talk page

Are the tips above open for editing or are they considered stable? --hydnjo talk 04:23, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Those towards the top are more stable than the ones on the bottom. If you find something inaccurate or confusing, go ahead and edit them, sure.--HereToHelp (talk • contribs) 04:35, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, then I have a question about about the Search box focus tip. On Mac OSX, Alt F drops in a "Find Text" box and the Tab key puts the cursor into the search box. Does the Tab key do that on Windows systems? --hydnjo talk 04:48, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

All the tips, even those on the project page, are subject to correction and improvement, even when they are being displayed. Feel free to improve these tips! Please keep in mind that we try to keep them as concise as possible. Good point on the search-box focus, the tip was for Windows-users only (and needs the Mac info). Good catch! The tab on Windows systems goes to the first link in the chain of links, starting with the first link on the page itself, then moving through the tabs at the top of the page, then top menu, then the sidebar. If you are in the editor, the tab goes to the edit summary box. --Go for it! 08:28, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Mac question

On a Mac, when in the editor, what key jumps you to the edit summary box? --Go for it! 08:31, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure if if this is what you mean, but in a web browser, pressing tab cycles you through the text fields in the current window. ×Meegs 08:44, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

We've almost surpassed the old project already

The original tip of the day project had about 85 tips. At our current rate, we'll pass that in a few more days. (We're up to 69 already). --Go for it! 13:34, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Word choice error

I've been using the word "transclusion" incorrectly. It is a synonym for substitution - (like this:) {{subst sample}} - but I've been using it as "inclusion" which means inserting a template on a page like this: {{sample}}. Transclusion actually copies the source text of the template to the current page. I've fixed most of these word choice errors in the tips, but keep a lookout for them just in case I missed any. --Go for it! 13:57, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

"Tip of the day:" removed from tip titles

An opening identifier will be included on the template(s), but having "Tip of the day:" in the title, just obscures the name of the tip. So I've removed them. --Go for it! 14:37, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

Memo

What is meant by the memo on the main page. Do you mean that the tip needs rewriting and expanding, or do you mean that you want it writing over? smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 18:13, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

The tip that was rescheduled to May 11th. Another tip needs to be placed there. The memo is there in case someone else gets to it before I do. --Go for it! 17:07, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Time saving links II

"you could link it like so: [[puddle|puddles]]." Should that read [[puddles|puddle]] ? Dlyons493 Talk 15:17, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

No, because it is refering to making a link to puddle like so: puddles. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 10:34, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

The Preview Button is your Friend

This is the number one way to fix really stupid errors, like forgetting to fix the size for a picture or misspelling a common word. Hurricanehink 02:15, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Browsing Feature

I added the following line;

[[{{day-1|{{FULLPAGENAME}}|Wikipedia:Tip of the day/|{{CURRENTYEAR}}}}|Prior tip]] - [[{{day+1|{{FULLPAGENAME}}|Wikipedia:Tip of the day/|{{CURRENTYEAR}}}}|Next tip]]

between the 'noinclude' tags on the April 20, April 21, and April 22 tip pages. This adds 'Prior day' and 'Next day' links which are only displayed when the page is viewed directly (not when it is transcluded) that will allow you to browse forward or backward through the list.

Extend to other pages, remove, and/or adjust as desired. I only put it on the three pages so people can see how it works and decide whether to incorporate it or not. --CBDunkerson 01:14, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

That's cool. A definite improvement. I've started to extend this feature to the other tips on the project page, to allow easy browsing of the tips. --Go for it! 17:28, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

TOTD box size

I have resized the TOTD box to allow it to fit better on Help:Contents, as well as some code cleanup. --Aude (talk | contribs) 19:37, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Recent changes to this template have affected the way the box is displayed on my talk page. It is now merging itself to the table of contents box. I have no idea what's happening or how to fix it. Could someone please check? - Ganeshk (talk) 20:41, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Should be fixed now. --Aude (talk | contribs) 20:43, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! - Ganeshk (talk) 20:52, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

I've created a new template Template:totd3 specifically for the help page. The old template is back to its original formatting. --Go for it! 21:09, 27 March 2006 (UTC)